Zane Wallace chargedwith murder
For months Zane Wallace had been telling his girlfriend, Jasmine Wilson, that he wanted to injure her terribly.
‘‘He had told her over and over again that he wanted to kill her, that he wanted to do terribly violent things to her,’’ prosecutor Chris Wilkinson-smith told a jury in the High Court at Wellington yesterday.
On July 31, 2019, Wilson, 30, was taken to Whanganui Hospital, bruised and losing consciousness from head injuries, before being taken to Wellington Hospital, where she died on August 2, 2019.
Wilson, a mother of two sons, never complained to police about the beatings she’d been receiving. Police were called to one by a member of the public, but still she did not complain about Wallace.
Zane Paora Wallace,
29, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, along with 18 charges of threatening to cause grievous bodily harm, three charges of threatening to kill, one of demanding with menaces, and one of assaulting another woman.
But the jury was told he formally admitted inflicting the injuries that resulted in her being taken to hospital, and several other assaults.
One of Wallace’s lawyers, Jamie Waugh, told the jury that the issue was whether the death was murder or manslaughter.
‘‘No-one is saying he’s an innocent man,’’ Waugh said.
Leeann Michelle Wallace, 49,
who is Zane Wallace’s mother, pleaded not guilty to one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice relating to the way Wilson was taken to hospital.
Wilson and Wallace had a brief relationship as teenagers, and that was rekindled intensely in the final nine months of her life.
For some of that time Wallace was in prison and his phone calls to Wilson were recorded, including his numerous threats of violence, including beating her head in, slitting her throat, kicking her in the head and splattering her brains on the pavement.
Wilkinson-smith said her death was the culmination of nine months of threats and violence.
Friends and family saw her injuries, and she described some of the violence in her diary. Zane Wallace wanted to join the Hell’s Angels club and one of the assaults took place at the headquarters, where he was told to stop.
She withstood it until he gave her the last, fatal beating, struck her in the face, opened up cuts on her face, caused bleeding in her mouth, struck her chest and arms, and broke her ribs.
‘‘Once his rage had run its course, she’s covered in injuries, consciousness is starting to drop, and he does nothing for her,’’
Wilkinson-smith said.
The morning of July 31, 2019, Wallace’s father, Steven Wallace, visited his son, who was on a 24-hour curfew to stay at home in Millward St, Whanganui East. Steven Wallace saw Wilson’s condition, put her in his car and drove to hospital.
But instead of taking her inside he waited for his ex-wife and daughter to arrive in separate cars. His daughter drove his car to the emergency department.
The father and daughter have already pleaded guilty to offences relating to the case, the jury was told.
Wilkinson-smith said Zane Wallace had often expressed sexual jealousy and by the end of July 2019 he was irate at the virtual house arrest he was under. Not long before she died, a former boyfriend had given Wilson two puppies, and that seemed to anger him as well.
After her death police planted a listening device in the house, where another woman had joined Wallace.
The police device recorded them fighting and a late-night assault on her as well, WilkinsonSmith said.
Waugh asked the jury to put their emotions, bias and prejudice to one side.
They would see into a world of young men and women where methamphetamine was like coffee, and where love, violence and jealousy went hand in hand.
They would hear evidence that was tragic, horrendous and the jury might find it utterly disgusting.
Wallace was guilty of manslaughter, but there was nothing to show he knew he was likely to cause death or that he ran the risk thatwilson would die.
For Leeann Wallace, lawyer Stephanie Burlace said the Crown alleged she was part of a nefarious plan to disguise information, but Leeann Wallace was different to her ex-husband and daughter.
She had an appointment at the hospital that morning. She attended the appointment and went home.
Rather than attempt to disguise what happened, it was equally likely her daughter had said: ‘‘Mum, you go to your appointment and I’ll help Dad with Jasmine,’’ Burlace said.
The trial is expected to take five or six weeks, before Justice Jill Mallon and a jury of seven men and five women.
Jurors were told that the month before Wilson’s death the father of her sons died.